Robin Hood
by dannams
Summary: Tony wakes up to find himself held for ransom by a hot blonde who feeds him pie, and gives him the best orgasms of his life, but who also steals his money (and his heart), and then takes off without a trace, challenging him to a game of 'Catch Me if You Can' . Steve is a spy who plays Robin Hood in spare time, he kidnaps Tony for money and accidentally falls for him. No powers AU.
1. Mr Hot Blond

**_Thanks to mangaEATER-chan for lending her editing skills :)_**

* * *

As Tony slowly regains consciousness he notices some things:

1) His head hurts: Normal.

2) There's a gorgeous blond man in front of him: Pretty normal.

3) He has no idea where he is: Ok, that's a little strange.

4) He's lying in a bed in a concrete cell: He's officially freaking out.

"Good evening, Mr. Stark," the blonde greets with a cheerful smile.

Now Tony definitely knows something is wrong, because his one night stands are never that cheerful the day after.

Tony recovers from his original shock quickly, "Lovely young things like you get to call me Tony," he says sitting up, flashing Blondie his trademark grin. He is slowly starting to remember what happened yesterday, and he's pretty sure that this guy has abducted him but hey, it never hurts to flirt, right?

He remembers being at a party and spotting - who he will now refer to as - Mr. Hot Blond (HB) sitting alone nursing a beer. Tony usually goes for the easiest targets (drunk, half naked, and fawning all over him), but as cheesy as it sounds, there was something about HB's eyes that drew him in when they connected from across the room.

The _one time_ he goes for the sweet one, he ends up being kidnapped. He will _so_ rub this in Pepper's face when he gets home.

"I see the stories of your charm aren't completely baseless," HB says with an amiable smile.

Oh, Tony _definitely_ remembers that smile, he must have talked to HB for hours last night before they finally decided to go somewhere more quiet. Admittedly, the fact that HB never gave him his name should have tipped Tony off that something was wrong, but this guy really does smile like an angel.

If Tony's being _really _honest he would say that he's disappointed. He actually thought they were having a nice time, and he had really liked this guy. He thought the other man was into him too. So much for that.

"I'm glad I didn't disappoint," he snarks at him venomously. "You wanna tell me what the hell I'm doing here and exactly where you want to be buried when I get out?"

HB just continues to smile at him and, _god dammit_, kidnappers have no right to look that good.

"Why the sudden hostility? You were much sweeter last night."

"Yeah well you weren't holding me hostage last night, were you? Look, whatever it is that you want the answer is, and will always be **_'no'_**. I was held prisoner in a cave and tortured for three months. Anything you can come up with will be nothing compared to what I already went through," Tony spits harshly, because _fuck this_! He did this once and he's _not_ doing it again.

The blond doesn't seem fazed at all by Tony's outburst. He just shakes his head lightly, perfect sandy hair falling against his face. "I heard about that and I'm sorry you had to go through something so awful, but I think you have the wrong idea, Tony. I'm not going to hurt you, but you are going to give me what I want."

"Those things don't go together," Tony says narrowing his eyes skeptically. If this guy isn't threatening to hurt him, then he has no reason to give him what he wants, not that he was going to, but HB really doesn't seem to be grasping the whole 'villain' thing.

HB walks over and sits beside him on the bed. "Tomorrow night, you're going to get your assistant to drop off a million dollars in cash to a predetermined location, and then I'll let you go, easy as pie."

Tony burst out laughing. 'Cause really? _One _million dollars? It's pretty common knowledge that Tony probably has more than that in the checking account on _one_ of his cards. This guy really is an amateur.

The blond just sits patiently through Tony's second outburst.

"That's it? That all you want? Not to toot my own horn but, do you know how much I'm worth?" Tony asks wiping the tears from his eyes. Wow, he needed a good laugh, maybe he'll send this guy a fruit basket in prison.

HB leans back on the bed propping himself up on his elbows. "I'm sure it's substantially more than I'm asking for, which is why you'll part with it easily," he says as though it's a clear fact. It was as if he was simply explaining that the sky is blue then; oh and by the way you're going to give a million dollars to an inexperienced child - who isn't even threatening to hurt you - just because he asks nicely.

"I'm not giving you shit kid. You have no leverage since you said you're not going to hurt me. Unless, of course, you're taking that back?" Tony asks mirroring the blonde's relaxed posture. This is so far his _favorite_ abduction.

HB turns onto his side and leans into Tony's space, and if this is meant to be threatening it's definitely not working, because the sweet confident smile is ruining the effect.

When HB gets about two inches away from Tony's face Tony can't help but flash a quick look down at his lips, and yup, just as plump and kissable as he remembers. Tony looks back at HB bright blue eyes to see them dancing with amusement. "I'm going to kiss you now," he whispers.

And that's all the warning Tony gets before those plump pink lips descend onto his. Tony is vaguely aware that he should be resisting, I mean, he is being held captive, but for the life of him he can't seem to put up a fight. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he's receiving the best kiss of his life, which is saying a lot because Tony has kissed _hundreds_ of people.

But this, oh god, _this _kiss is unprecedented, and Tony wants, he wants it so, _so _bad.

Tony leans in to deepen the kiss but is stopped by a hand on his chest, and he doesn't even try to muffle the whine that escapes.

HB ignores his protest and pulls away with an amused chuckle. "I like you Tony, you're different from what I expected you'd be," he says, lightly giving Tony one more peck, which Tony again tries to deepen, but is foiled by HB's superior strength.

"Nuh uh, work first, play later," Blondie says, still close enough to Tony's lips that he can feel every puff of air that leaves the blonde's perfect mouth, and smell his apple cinnamon scented skin.

"You smell like pie," Tony comments idly.

Maybe this guy is like Ivy from Batman? Maybe he's releasing pheromones to lure him in?! Tony's panicked brain supplies. It definitely seems like a logical option because all he wants to do right now is stay here cuddled to HB's warm broad chest, inhaling his beautiful scent but, wait, isn't he forgetting something?

Oh yeah, he's currently being held against his will.

Tony scrambles away quickly and stands clearing his throat. "If you let me go right now I wouldn't send the cops after you." Tony offers, still feeling high off of whatever perfume HB is wearing.

"I was baking," HB says absently straightening his khakis and blue dress shirt as he stands up.

"What?" Tony asks confused by the sudden randomness of the turn in the conversation.

HB just rolls his eyes and smiles fondly. "You said I smell like pie. That's because I've been baking. I'll bring you a piece when I come back, but for now I'm going to leave you alone to think about my offer. I brought you some water too if you're thirsty."

Tony scoffs. _Seriously?_ He got kidnapped by a kid who _bakes_? "Look, you seem like a nice kid, but I'm not giving you anything. So just let me go and maybe you won't spend the rest of your life in jail." It's a lie, kidnapping Tony Stark will definitely guarantee you life in jail if Pepper and her team of ruthless lawyers have anything to say about it.

HB sighs, and it's one of the cutest sounds Tony has ever heard, making him seriously consider making conjugal visits to Blondie in prison.

"This isn't the first time I've done this, or the tenth, and I always get what I want. I'm willing to keep you here for as long as it takes, but you're a good boy, you'll come around."

Tony sputters. _Good boy?! _This kid is like ten years younger than him, at least!

HB exists with a nod and friendly smile leaving Tony alone to figure an escape route.

Three hours later finds Tony no further in his quest for freedom than he was when he first woke up. He drank all the water and now he's just bored and lax.

The cell is like a small neat bedroom with white walls, a bed pushed to the corner of the room, a toilet at the other end, and a small bedside table. Nothing he can use to escape.

Tony curses himself for not putting up a fight when the blonde was in the room. What's the point of all those training sessions with Happy if he's not going to use them in situations like this?

But, to be fair, he was hazy from whatever HB slipped him last night, and he isn't calling him 'Mr. Hot Blonde' for nothing, the guy does look like a Greek god, and that itself is a very distracting predicament.

Exhausted, with no progress made, Tony lies across the width of the comfy queen sized bed, kicks his feet up on the wall, and crosses his hands behind his head with a sigh.

HB had said 'good evening' when Tony first woke up, which means it's been a day since he left for the party and, judging from his history, it would still be hours before Pepper (or Jarvis) notes his absence as unusual.

Tony stares at his shoes, rocking them idly side to side and wonders what it'll be like to date HB from prison. They could have those cool conversations over those prison phones with the pane of glass separating them, with the two of them pressing their hands together longingly like in the movies.

Tony suddenly stops rocking his shoes.

_Oh my god!_

How did he not remember this sooner!? Scrambling upright, Tony sits up and quickly takes off his right shoe.

He had gotten this installed mostly because he saw it in a spy movie and thought it might be cool, but now it could actually come in handy! Pressing the hidden button Tony opens the secret compartment in the heel to reveal - Nothing.

The compartment is empty. _How is that possible!?_ There's supposed to be a knife in there! How could HB possibly have found it? Unless he was telling the truth, and really has done this more than ten times before.

Tony swallows the small bit of rising panic. Ok, so he definitely underestimated the guy, which is probably exactly what HB wanted him to do, hence the smile and the kind words leading him to false conclusions. His eyes were an unnaturally perfect shade of blue, those are probably fake too.

_Fuck!_

Tony feels like a complete idiot for playing into this guy's - who will furthermore be referred to as Mr. Blonde Asshole (BA) - hands.

Tony spends the rest of the night alone and brooding over his unfortunate circumstances until finally falling into a restless sleep.


	2. Mr Blonde Asshole

"Wakey wakey, sleepy head." An obnoxiously cheerful voice sings. Tony doesn't remember making a waking up robot but he's seriously considering destroying it the second his brain comes online.

Then a heavenly smelling cup of coffee is placed under his nose and all of a sudden he wants to marry this robot and make beautiful robo-babies.

Sitting up, he grabs the cup and inhales deeply before taking a large, perfect, scalding gulp. Four gulps later, Tony freezes mid sip when the details of his current predicament resurface.

Slowly looking up he sees HB - _Nope, _he reminds himself - _BA _smiling innocently down at him with a plate of eggs, bacon and toast.

Tony spits the coffee in his mouth back into the almost empty cup and slams it on the small wooden table beside the bed.

HB's - for fuck's sake - **_BA's _**eyes widen to Bambi proportion with hurt, and _good_, Tony thinks, he hopes he feels terrible. Even though the expression makes Tony's heart hurt a little, he ignores it and continues to glare.

"You have to eat something," the blonde says placing the aromatic plate in front of Tony.

Tony scoffs, "I don't want your fucking food Blondie," he bites out, meeting H-**_BA's_** warm blue eyes. The staring match is broken with a loud growl from Tony's stomach.

H- fuck it, you know what? HB is just going to have to be his name since BA clearly isn't sticking.

HB giggles-_fucking giggles!_-and crouches down to so he's at eye level in front of Tony.

"You're hungry, you should eat. You have to call to Miss Potts tonight and you'll need your strength." Stupid HB and his stupid way of saying things so matter-of-factly that Tony starts to believe them himself.

Leaning in close, Tony snarls, "I'm not doing _shit_ for you." Well, he hopes it comes out as a snarl, because this close he can smell that intoxicating mix of apples and cinnamon again and-_god _help him-he just wants to run his tongue all over this guy's body.

HB sighs and stands. "I'll just leave it here for if you decide to eat, ok?" he says with a smile before turning around.

_This is it!_ Tony thinks. He springs up from the bed narrowly avoiding the plate and makes a swing for the blonde's side. Next thing Tony knows his face is being pushed against the wall and his hands are pulled behind his back.

He hears the blond sigh lightly behind him, and then feels his warm body pressed to his back. "I meant what I said about not hurting you Tony, but if you do things like that my reflexes kick in and I could really injure you. So, in the future," he presses even closer to Tony's back and leans down to speak in his ear, "let's just play nice, ok?"

Tony nods dumbly with the tiny range of motion allotted to him, and, oh hello inappropriate boner.

"Good," HB says cheerfully turning Tony around. HB starts running his eyes over Tony's body, assumingly to check for injuries, but his eyes linger at Tony's crotch for far too long to simply be clinical.

When the blonde swallows and licks his lips, it sends a shiver down Tony's spine. Lust-blown blue eyes quickly snap up to meet brown ones and Tony involuntarily bucks up slightly releasing a small whine.

HB steps forward slowly, allowing Tony enough time to move away, but when Tony doesn't move, signaling his consent, he leans closer and captures Tony's mouth in a possessive kiss. It's even better than Tony remembers, and he almost completely loses it when he feels the bulge in the other man's pants slide over his.

He grabs hold of the blonde's shirt trying to deepen the kiss, and thanks every god he can think of when HB allows it and even reciprocates, sliding his tongue into Tony's mouth.

Tony is moaning and writhing after only minutes and god bless his probably deranged kidnapping heart, HB finally takes pity on him and sticks his hand down Tony's pants.

Big, warm hands slide up and down in a perfectly tight grip, twisting with every stroke, and when HB moves his mouth to bite down on Tony's neck while thumbing over the slit, Tony is gone.

He sees stars, and is pretty sure he blacks out for a minute because when he regains focus HB is standing an appropriate distance away looking utterly too put together - minus the obvious bulge in his pants - for someone who just did the dirty.

If Tony wasn't currently standing propped up against a wall with his dick out and cum in his pants he would not believe that the man in front of him just made his atheist and hedonistic self see God with only his hand and a perfectly timed bite.

"Fuuuuuck," Tony breathes, still trying to catch his breath.

"Eat the food and don't forget your call with Miss. Potts tonight," HB says, voice even, but he hesitates for a second on his way out, "I-I'll bring you something to clean yourself up with." The blonde is still facing the door but Tony thinks he sees the beginning of a blush on his porcelain skin.

HB leaves and Tony's legs give out under him making him slide to the ground. Tony is suddenly struck with the burning desire to know this guy's name, so he makes it his singular goal for the day. Along with, y'know, escaping of course.

He eats the food without noticing as he thinks over every detail of the night they met. They had talked about art (HB said he's an artist), food (HB said he loved to cook, especially bake), and family (none left, but he 'values his friends like family'). Tony remembers tons of similar details, and he doesn't know if they're true, but nothing about a name.

So when HB comes back with two buckets of water, a wash cloth and fresh sweats, Tony tries to ask. Actually he starts with, "I see you took care of that yourself." Gesturing to HB's bulge-free crotch, "I could've helped y'know."

And yes, Tony realizes that he's offering to give his _kidnapper_ a hand job but since he woke up yesterday he's felt weirdly open, so at this point he's just enjoying the ride and feelin' good.

All that gets him is a shy smile and a hurried exit.

Tony uses the unnaturally clean metal toilet in the corner of the room then wipes himself down with the water and changes into the clothes, that-_oh sweet baby Jesus-_smell just like HB. Tony's now pretty sure that he'll be getting an erection every time he passes a bakery, which actually doesn't sound so bad.

He tries to get a name again at lunch but doesn't even ask because HB brings him a big slice of apple pie along with lunch and Tony becomes too busy stuffing the pie into his face to do anything.

HB seems happy with Tony's reaction because he gives a wide satisfied grin before leaving Tony alone with his new apple flavored best friend. After pie, Tony feels better than he has in a long time. When dinner time arrives, HB returns with more pie, and Tony lunges for the new piece of his magic pie.

"You can have pie after our call with Miss Potts," HB instructs, taking a seat on the bed, placing the tray protectively between him and the wall.

A voice in his head tells him that something must be wrong because, right now, Tony sees no reason why he shouldn't give him a million dollars for a slice of pie. But he ignores it taking a seat at the end of the bed and folds his legs under him to sit close to HB. "I want you to answer some questions for me first," he says, eyeing the pie hungrily.

His mouth is watering but he had set one goal – along with escaping _of course! -_ for today and he will learn HB's name if it kills him, or worse, loses him his pie privileges.

"Ask away," the blonde invites, tilting his head curiously to the right, making him look like an adorable puppy causing Tony to shake his head in order to focus.

"Was everything you told me about yourself when we met true?" Tony realizes that he would normally never ask a question like this, it encroaches on the territory of _feelings_, and he's never been good at that. But he feels calm and strangely open for one of the first times in his life, plus HB is so warm and kind, which makes him want to say whatever he feels.

Tony quickly files that under the large 'weird things I have to analyze about the last two days' folder in his mind.

"Hm, I don't remember everything I told you," HB says knitting his brows in concentration, "but I don't make a habit of lying outside of work, and I do really like you Tony, so I would say 'yes'."

"Well you're not actually an artist right? You're extremely impressive kung fu skills made that pretty clear, so are you like a spy or something?"

HB looks sheepishly down at his hands. "It doesn't really matter what my job is. I do this sometimes to put my talents to better use, but art is my real passion, although, I just don't have a lot of time for it."

"Can I see something you've made?" Tony finds himself asking in favor of the more obvious 'how is kidnapping me and asking for a million dollars "putting your skills to better use"?'

He doesn't even really like art. Pepper has spent millions on pieces he wouldn't even hang over his toilet, but the idea of seeing HB's passion played out on a canvas or paper with any medium fills Tony with genuine interest.

HB looks surprised that Tony would ask. "I-uh-how 'bout I send you a painting when you get out of here ok?" Tony doesn't believe that'll happen but he nods anyway. HB did say he didn't lie…

"Is that all you wanted to know?" the blonde asks brushing Tony's hair gently away from his forehead then sliding his hand down to rest on the side of Tony face, thumb brushing against his cheekbone.

Tony feels a burst of warmth rush to his heart. Letting his eyes flutter shut, he brings his hand up to rest on HB's, holding it in place. "I wanna know your name," he murmurs, enjoying the feel of HB's pulse on his skin and the warmth radiating from the big hand.

Suddenly the warmth is gone and Tony's eyes fly open to see HB looking flustered. "I-I can't tell you that."

"Yes you can, I promise I wouldn't tell anyone, I just-I keep calling you Mr. Hot Blonde in my head, and I wanna to stop, I-I want to know your name," Tony pleads moving closer to press his forehead to blonde hair.

And he really is starting to hate that name, HB,it makes the other man seem like less of a person, like he's just a body to be ogled, and he's not, he's…more.

HB chuckles. "Hot Blonde huh? I guess I should take that as a compliment?" He gives a small sigh before pulling Tony in for a kiss. "I...Steve. My name's Steve."

"Steeev," Tony says testing the name on his tongue, "I like it," he says honesty.

After a while of making out and saying 'Steve,' Tony is given his victory pie early while Steve calls Pepper.

* * *

**Next chapter:**

_**"Pepper I've been kidnapped, the guy's gonna send you drop off instructions for where to put the million in cash. Do everything he says and I'll see you soon" Tony says hurriedly securing the rest of the pie in a safe spot on the floor before rushing into Steve's lap.**_


	3. Steve

"Who is this?" Pepper asks flatly after the sixth ring.

"Hey, Pep, it's me," Tony says around a face full of pie, Steve, and ohmygod it's so great to call him by his real name, smiles fondly and wipes the corner of Tony's mouth with his thumb then brings it to his own lips, licking it clean.

Tony's eyes follow the trail of Steve's tongue and is instantaneously hard, and wants to moan obscenely, almost dropping his precious pie.

"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME TONY!?" Pepper's voice breaks the spell, and Tony may never _ever_ forgive her for it.

"Pepper I've been kidnapped. The guy's gonna send you drop off instructions for where to put the million in cash. Do everything he says and I'll see you soon," Tony says hurriedly, securing the rest of the pie in a safe spot on the floor before rushing into Steve's lap.

Steve indulges him for a short time, squeezing his ass, rubbing up and down the length of his spine, stroking him through his - _Steve's_ - sweat pants.

But the fun ends too quickly when Steve pulls back slightly. "You have to reassure her you're ok, and to not get the police involved, she's probably worried sick," he whispers.

Just then Pepper's loud yelling cuts into their focus again, "-SWEAR TO GOD I WILL CASTRATE YOU WITH A BUTTER KNIFE! WHO MAKES A JOKE LIKE THAT!? YOU GO MISSING FOR TWO DAYS THEN CALL FROM A STRANGE NUMBER ASKING FOR A MILLION DOLLARS. IF YOU'RE IN A COLOMBIAN PRISON AGAIN TONY I WILL-"

"Holy crap, Pep calm down," Tony talks over her trying to sound serious but his task is made difficult when he sees Steve cover his mouth, face red from the effort of holding in his laughter.

Pepper releases a long, drawn out sigh and Tony can tell she's massaging her temples like she always does when she's stressed. "Are you really being held against your will for ransom?" she asks monotonously.

Tony thinks that over in his head, technically he is, but he would be with Steve anyway…

Before he can answer Steve starts speaking in a voice that Tony's never heard him use, "What Mr. Stark is saying is true. The drop will be made at exactly eleven forty eight tonight at the north edge of the largest pond in Central Park. There will be no police involvement. You will make the drop personally and we will all walk away with what we want. Am I clear?" Holy crap, Steve sounds so serious, like a Captain in the military giving orders to a soldier.

It makes Tony want to tear his clothes off and fuck him senseless.

He hears Pepper' sharp intake of breath and Tony feels bad, he shouldn't be worrying her like this since he's not in any real danger. He's with Steve.

He'll tell her after they make the exchange…

Part of Tony's mind tells him that there's something wrong with his current logic but all thoughts are pushed aside when Steve slides a hand into his lap.

"I understand. How can I know Tony will be safe?" Her voice sounds sure and business-like, and that is why Tony hired her. Pepper is the perfect business person, efficient, hardworking and enters cold-and-calculating-business-mode faster than anyone Tony has ever seen.

"I'm fine Pep, really, just do what he says ok?" Tony requests, but he's really only focused on Steve's hand rubbing circles over his clothed erection.

"Ok, Tony. Be safe." She sounds wiry and uncertain towards the end but agrees anyway.

Steve ends the call. "You did really well Tony," he coos laying Tony onto his back then sliding up the length of Tony's body to kiss and bite his neck.

"Yeah?" Tony asks, bucking up against Steve solid body suspended an inch above his. "Does that mean I get to touch you?" He asks hopefully, pulling Steve down to meet him.

Steve moves willingly, rubbing their clothed-why are they still clothed?- erections together. "If you want," Steve whispers in his ear, then runs his tongue over the shell.

Of course he wants! Tony moans, bucking up frantically. He's usually able to last much longer, but with Steve he already feels heat pooling in his groin. Tony sticks his hand between them into Steve's pants, there's not much room to maneuver but it is still sooooo good.

Steve is large and thick and Tony can imagine what he'd feel like in his mouth or, better yet, buried deep inside. He moans at the thought, thankful for the friction that the pants provide.

Steve begins to thrust into Tony's fist, adding pressure on Tony's front, and when Steve purrs "Come for me, Tony," he does so with a surprised gasp. He's never been one to follow instruction but for Steve, it feels as if he would be ready for anything.

Steve looks down at him with a sad smile and softly says, "Goodnight, Tony."

Tony is about to say he's not tired, plus he didn't finish his pie, but suddenly feels a prick in his neck and a rush of sleepiness overtakes him.

When Tony wakes up he's in a hospital bed looking up at Pepper's warm, relieved eyes. "I'm glad you're finally up," she says softly.

"I-where," he wants to end that sentence with 'is Steve?' but even his sleep hazed mind knows he can't ask that, so instead he finishes with, "am I?"

Pepper takes his hand. "When I got off the phone with you I called the police. They told me to take the bag as instructed but that they'd follow whoever picked it up and catch the group that took you."

"Did they get hi- them?" he corrects, anxious, not knowing which answer he wants more.

"No," Pepper says, and the relief that floods his system tells him that was definitely the answer he wanted. "I made the drop, and on my way out of the park, I got a call from the same guy telling me that you were asleep at the other end of the park. I told the police and half go rushing over to get you and the other half follows the guy."

Pepper pauses to wipe a tear from her eye, Tony vaguely remembers waking up and seeing people in bulletproof vests, but the memory is fuzzy at best.

"We found you, but the other group that followed the kidnapper trailed him to an abandoned house, completely surround it, and when they bust in they find out the guy was just some kid who got paid a hundred bucks to pick up a bag from the park. The criminals that got you somehow managed to get in and out completely undetected."

Tony listens to the story and is again impressed by Steve, who he's really starting to believe is actually a spy or something equally badass.

"God Tony, we were so worried. I was relieved when they examined you and found out that the worst they did to you was flood your system with some myriad of drugs, it could have-."

"WHAT!?" Tony yells. He was **_drugged_**?

"Yeah probably to keep you calm, the doctors said they probably put it in your food to keep you from causing trouble-"

THE FUCKING PIE!

"What? What pie?" Pepper asks, looking worried.

Tony didn't realize he said that out loud but it doesn't matter because he was seeing red. Steve drugged him! That fucking blonde asshole drugged him! He was playing him the entire time! All the kind smiles, the 'I like you Tony, you're nothing like I expected', and the FUCKING PIE! All of it was a lie!

"Whoa!" Pepper says, eyes going wide with worry, "Your heart monitor is going crazy, Tony, you need to calm down."

Tony takes a deep breath, then five more, and his heart rate goes down but he still feels murderous.

FUCKING STEVE! If that is even his real name!

God dammit! How could he have been so stupid? He actually fell for some sociopath who got his jollies by taking advantage of his drugged prisoners. Ok, fine, if he's being honest, he really doesn't regret the sex, and he doesn't actually feel taken advantage of, but what he is pissed about is the fact that he was duped, fooled, tricked, bamboozled!

He's supposed to be a genius! 'Survived Three Months In A Cave With Vicious Terrorists And All I Got Was A Scarred Chest' and all that shit, but noooooo, two fucking days in a nice room with FUCKING STEVE and he's willing to do anything.

Did he mention FUCK STEVE? Tony promises himself that he will do everything in his power to bring this man to his knees!

"TONY!" Pepper yells breaking Tony from his villainous plots for revenge, this one involving alligators, sharks and the possible involvement of some four thousand bloodthirsty piranhas!

"This police officer wants to ask you some questions," she says gesturing to the man in uniform to his right before leaving the room with a hesitant smile.

Yes! Tony thinks, he can tell this guy everything and they'll find this Steve guy in no time.

The officer asks him, "What do you remember Mr. Stark?"

Tony opens his mouth and says, "Nothing." He's completely taken back by his own answer, but the cop just accepts it and continues to ask more questions to which Tony continues to answer that he doesn't remember.

He doesn't mention what party he was at when he was taken, he doesn't say what they did together, and he absolutely doesn't mention the name 'Steve'.

He tells himself that he's doing it because he wants to find this guy himself and not because he promised Steve-No! He chastises himself, that's not his name. Not HB, not BA, and definitely. Not. Steve.

The guy probably just pulled a name out of his ass, but Tony doesn't tell anyone all the same. He also doesn't tell anyone that the clean pair of sweatpants and t-shirt he was wearing when they found him weren't actually his.

They smell like apple, and cinnamon, and Steve.

Three months later and still nothing. Not even a trace of the similar crimes Steve said he committed. And Tony thinks he knows why: Steve has engineered the perfect crime.  
A) Kidnap a powerful rich person  
B) Ask for a relatively smalls sum of money  
C) Get the money, leave the person and run  
D) The real genius is in the fact that rich powerful people don't like to admit to weakness. Like Tony, they probably hid their abduction from the media and kept their names out of police reports. Because on paper, three months ago, for two days, Tony Stark was stuck in his lab working hard like the responsible inventor he is.

And that's what Steve does.

He probably played them all, made them like him, then left without a trace.

Fuck Steve!

A week after he forms his theory Pepper forces him to actually go to his office for 'real work,' and Tony drags his tired, lifeless body into his office early Tuesday morning.

He's so tired that he almost misses the medium sized square package sitting on his desk.

To say it's 'odd' would be an epic understatement. Everyone knows that all of his mail goes to Pepper, and she would never leave something in his office. Tony only remembers what color the walls when he walked in a second ago- a subtle yellow/gold with red trim.

He feels like he should call the bomb squad or something, but he figures he used to be the king of bombs, so if it is one, he can defuse it and move on to his sixth cup of coffee within minutes.

With that in mind, he carefully begins to tear off the brown paper and completely freezes, it's not a bomb, but it hits him like one.

In front of him is a painted canvas, and suddenly he remembers Steve's words, "How 'bout I send you a painting when you get out of here, ok?'

Tony's has to take a seat and breathe deeply.

The first thing he thinks is: He remembered! Quickly followed by: Are you a fucking idiot?! He kidnapped you, drugged you, took advantage you, and stole your money! The least he could fucking do is send you a fucking…

Pie?

Tony holds up the painting of a slice of pie on a plate, and it's not just any slice of pie, it's a perfect rendition of his slice of pie. The same half-finished one on the green plate Steve served to him on their last night together.

When he lifts it closer to inspect it, it smells like apples and cinnamon! A piece of paper falls to the floor slowly, ripped from the notepad on his desk.

Written in neat script, he reads, "I promised you pie, and I promised you a painting. Steve."

Tony runs his finger over the words then hates himself for doing it, so crumples it up and throws it on the ground. Then, with a sigh, bends over to retrieve it and smoothen it out.

That's when he notices the back of the note, "Still haven't found me? I thought you were a genius?"

His heart rate speeds up. Steve knows he's looking? Does he want to be found? Is this a challenge to find him or is Steve going to come to him?

Tony starts to right himself, but pauses when he notices his security camera hidden discreetly in the corner of the room.

He places the note on his desk as he scrambles to pull up the security feed to his office. He sits watching, at rapid speed, all of the footage since he got back over three months ago.

He finally gets to a day last week that seems normal, but is actually just a loop of the same empty office the days before- HA! See, genius! Who else would notice that the feed of the same empty unmoving office is too similar for two days? Take that, Steve!

Unfortunately, that gets him nowhere.

That is until he remembers his other security camera, which was another idea he got from a spy movie-he watches a lot of spy movies, it's a thing.

He walks over to the bust of George Washington, and really, the fact that no one (not even Pepper) asked why a year ago, he suddenly wanted a bust of George Washington, shows how strange Tony's whims usually are. He lifts the hollow head to reveal a hidden camera. Tony giddily takes the SD card over to his computer and goes to the file with the day that showed the loop from the other footage, and there!

There he is, Steve, entering Tony's office at one in the morning wearing a tight full body, black jumpsuit holding the package with the painting, his face and chest mostly hidden, but Tony knows it's him.

He walks in, sits in Tony's chair- Tony suddenly feels all tingly where his body touches the same chair- and writes the note. His body remains mostly out of view until he's just about to leave.

He has his gloved hand on the handle but turns at the last minute and looks directly into to camera,-how the fuck did he notice the camera?! _Pepper_ didn't notice the camera- smiles, and leaves.

Just like that.

He rewinds the video and pauses on Steve's face again. With this angle you can see his entire body, his long muscular neck, his broad shoulders, the bird emblem on his suit, the-wait, what?

Tony zooms in on the emblem, takes a screenshot of it, and prints it out, then zooms back out to look at Steve's smile. It was playful, coy and just screams 'catch me if you can.'

And he will.

"I'm going to find you," Tony says to frozen Steve.

He doesn't know how, or what he'll do when he finds him, but he will find him.


	4. Steven Grant Rogers

**I'm a total lying liar-pants, there is actually one more chapter after this.**

* * *

Steve grunts a greeting to his partially assembled team as he takes a seat at the lunch room table. He purposefully ignores the looks that pass between them in favor of taking a bite of his lackluster sandwich.

"You know what?!" Clint announces, "I'm sick of this! Steve just tell us what the hell happened on the mission with Stark and quit moping around!"

Steve glares at him and looks around to make sure no one else was listening. He doesn't know what Directory Fury would do if he found out about his little foray into vigilantism but he knows he doesn't want to find out.

"There's no one listening, we're the only ones here," Clint assures gesturing to Natasha and Bucky beside him.

"Just tell us Stevie, this is starting to get ridiculous. It's been like five months and you're still acting weird," Buck says leaning forward.

Steve rolls his eyes at the nick name, "Can you not call me that, please?"

"I'll stop calling you that when you stop acting like the same ninety pound kid I knew from S.H.I.E.L.D basic training," Bucky challenges, poking Steve in the chest.

Steve rests his face in his hands with a sigh, "There's nothing to tell ok? It went fine, I got the money, gave it to the shelter, and came back to base. Can we just drop it?"

"He likes Stark," the redhead beside him states bluntly.

Steve lifts his head to stare at her with open mouthed shock.

"No he doesn't, right Stevie? Cap? Oh God you _do_!" Bucky exclaims taking in Steve's shocked expression.

"How the hell did that happen? The guy's an asshole!" Clint finally recovers enough to ask.

Steve hates this, talking about his personal life with his team always makes him feel uncomfortable. He's supposed to be The Captain: Leader of a special group of spies, code named The Avengers, he can't let weakness show. And maybe possibly, kinda falling for some billionaire, playboy is definitely a weakness.

"He was different that I thought OK it… threw me off," he admits, hoping that that'll be enough to get them off his back.

It isn't.

"Of course he was different than you thought, you were in character, he was probably all over the dumb-drunk you were pretending to be, then he gave up the money easily when you played up the whole scary badass Captain thing," Bucky says waving his hand dismissively.

Steve sighs and scrubs his hands over his face. "That's not what I did ok?" he says with frustration, "that was the plan but I was waiting at the party completely out of character and he comes up to me anyway, so I changed the plan-"

"Wait," Natasha interrupts, "I've seen you at parties, you're telling me _The _Tony Stark approached the shyest, most awkward, out of place looking person?" she asks skeptically.

"That's what I thought!" Steve exclaims throwing his hands up, "He starts talking to me, and I have no idea how I'm supposed to act so I just… acted like myself."

He knows it sounds so pathetic, but he has been a spy with S.H.I.E.L.D for years and he's never engaged a target as himself. Heck, he hasn't talked anyone besides his team as just himself in a long time, he was always 'Captain.' It was different talking to someone that simply liked him for himself. It was nice.

"It wasn't real Steve. Even if you liked him when you first met, after that he was drugged. You can't actually believe that was him." Bucky says in a sympathetic voice, and Steve hates it.

He knows that everyone on the team is happy, they're all in stable relationships, and as their jobs entail, they are aware that he hasn't been able to find his happiness with anyone, much less through a steady and dependable relationship.

At least, a few years ago he could have said he liked his job, but now he doesn't even have that. He used to think he was making a difference, but all his work now is just bureaucratic pencil pushing.

His team tries to set him up almost weekly, always a different agent or some other S.H.I.E.L.D employee, but he doesn't want that. He doesn't know exactly what it is that he wants, but he knows he got a glimpse of it in the time he spent with Tony.

"You don't think I know that? I just, I found him interesting. You know the first thing he did was tell me he wasn't giving me anything? Usually these rich guys offer to give me whatever I want, but not him. And then he tries to fight me! I'm twice his size and he still tries to take me. Even with all the drugs he just kept fighting, until we-," Steve cuts himself off, he's not willing to tell them what he did with Tony.

He didn't even really mean to use sex to keep Tony calm but it worked, he was already giving him a higher dosage of the drugs than he was comfortable with, but Tony still wasn't cooperating. So when he saw how much calmer Tony was after their groping session against the wall he just…went with it. And if he liked it too then that's just a happy accident.

"He had sex with Stark," Natasha cuts in again drily.

"What!?" Clint gasps, almost falling out of his seat.

"You really need to stop reading my mind," Steve says shooting her a glare. "Look, I really don't want to talk about this. I thought he was interesting and nice so we, uh, did stuff. But he didn't find me so it's over." Steve purposefully leaves out the part where he gave Tony hints to keep him looking, but they don't need to know that. He likes the idea of Tony thinking about him and Steve wanted to keep Tony engaged even though he's sure that if Tony _does_ find him, it probably wouldn't be to give him a hug.

Natasha looks surprised, "I was put on Stark awhile back. I've seen him in every stage of consciousness, and I've never seen him act remotely 'nice'. Self-sacrificing for the purpose of making amends? Yes, but never _nice._"

Steve swallows down his excitement, he wants to be happy about that, he wants to believe that maybe he saw a side of Tony that no one else had, but he can't. He's not a child, he knows that people are who they are and there's no changing that, there's no changing _them_. Steve just needs a little more time to get over this stupid crush and he'll be back to normal.

"I'm gonna be in my room, I'll see you guys later," he excuses himself and makes his way to his room.

He rushes in and closes the door to his quarters behind him, he doesn't expect them to follow him but he locks it behind him quickly anyway, just in case.

He's sitting on his bed with his head in his hands when he hears a high pitched sound, he only has time to sit up straight before his body goes rigid and motionless.

"You're a hard man to find, Steven Grant Rogers," says a familiar sounding voice. But it can't be… S.H.I.E.L.D is the most well hidden organization on the planet, Tony might have been able to find him, but there's no way he would be able get into the base.

Tony moves to stand directly in his line of sight wearing a devious grin, "I know what you're thinking," he says pacing the length of the room, " 'How did he find me?' or no, 'How did he get in here?' The answer is simple really, I'm a genius."

Steve tries to discern Tony's feelings, recalling all of S.H.I.E.L.D's instructional classes on Body Language and Assessing the Psyche of Your Captor, but he doesn't think that Tony will hurt him…not really.

Although he's heard about Tony's last escape, where he didn't exactly stop and ask the guys if they wanted to surrender before setting them on fire, and Steve can see the thinly veiled rage in Tony's eyes.

"I searched for you, I looked, and I looked, and I couldn't find _shit! _Not a thing! Then one fateful day I get this folder on my desk. It's a contract to upgrade the tech for this 'security company' named 'Shield' and what do you know? They had a very similar logo to the one on your suit. Not the same, but close enough that I thought it wouldn't hurt to take a look."

Tony pauses his story to look over Steve's tight S.H.I.E.L.D uniform, "You look great in that by the way. If you weren't an asshole I'd definitely consider hitting that again," he says with a smirk.

"Wow, a blush, you're really sticking to this whole 'boy next door' thing, huh?" Tony says bitterly before continuing to pace.

Steve, still unable to move, is only able to glare holes into Tony's face, but he itches to do more. He really hates his stupid blush sometimes, it's unfortunately one of the few things he kept from his days as a shy skinny kid.

"Anyway, so I tell Pep that I'll be handling the upgrades personally and I get access to S.H.I.E.L.D's computers. And after a solid week of hacking, the rest, as they say, is history." He finishes with a wide, triumphant grin. "Now, I thought about killing you, but that was back when I thought you were some goon working for an evil terrorist organization. I went through your file and saw that kidnapping rich people and taking their money isn't actually part of your job description. You're supposed to be one of the good guy. _In fact, I bet_ if Director Fury heard about what you do he'd be very unhappy."

Stark leans in inches away from Steve's face, placing his hand on Steve's knees. "I was _just_ going to tell Fury, but then I checked your bank account, and when I saw that you didn't put the money in there, curiosity got the better of me and I had to know what you did with it. I'm still going to tell Fury, but I wanna know why you took it. So here's the deal," Tony says sitting beside Steve on the bed, "I'm going to release you long enough for you to tell me what you did with it, then I'm going to go along on my merry way knowing that in a few minutes Fury is going to rain hell down on you for putting his whole organization in jeopardy. Easy as pie."

Steve can't see Tony's face from here but he can hear the grin in his voice, so he starts planning all the ways he can take Stark down when he releases him, but all of them are shot when Stark comments, "Oh and if you do anything to me the message still goes to Fury."

Steve deflates, he should have known playing with this man would have led to nothing good but he's unhappy and bored with his life, he supposes this was his extreme way of giving up.

He started this job because he wanted to help his country but he never _does_ anything, all he does is train new agents, create strategies for battles he doesn't get to fight, and sleep.

The reason he started taking money from rich people, was because he saw how much they had and how little others had, and he thought that it would be a way for him to feel useful again.

He feels the stiffness leave his body and allows himself to sag, letting the silence in the room to wash over him.

Steve sits with his head bowed thinking about what Fury will do. He did want excitement, and he's sure whatever Fury has in mind wouldn't be boring, so he supposes, in some way, he asked for this.

He feels Tony flick him on the ear and turns to look at him. Steve suddenly realizes just how close they're sitting, but the second their eyes meet Tony hurriedly looks away. "Hurry up Blondie, I don't have all day," he says putting distance between them.

Steve sighs and looks down at his shoes, "I made an anonymous donation to a shelter for battered women and children," he mumbles.

He doesn't know why Tony would care, if Natasha is right this guy only does good when it makes him look like a better person. He only bothers to make grand gestures like shutting down his weapons production, or huge charity balls when he knows it'll raise his reputation in the tabloids, the great billionaire philanthropist, Tony Stark. Steve thinks he'll probably be mad that he gave his money away without giving him credit.

Stark doesn't say anything for a long moment then he suddenly stands and exclaims, "Fuck!"

He crowds into Steve's space, "I swear to god if you're lying to me I'm gonna to do something _much_ worse than just tell Fury," he threatens, pointing an accusing finger in Steve's face.

Steve stands and pushes the finger away. "Why the hell would I lie? If you want your money back then too bad, it's gone!" Steve yells taking a step into Tony's space. He was telling the truth when he said he doesn't make a habit of lying outside of work, and hates being called a liar.

They stand inches apart trying to glare each other into submission.

Tony breaks first by turning away to swipe all of the contents on Steve's shelf onto the ground.

"What the hell is your problem?!" Steve asks. Tony's already going to get him fired, and probably much worse, does he really need to destroy his stuff too?

"You're my problem! You and your stupid face and fucking hair! Who steals a million dollars then just gives it away! Who the hell just wakes up one morning and decides to be Robin Hood? You're so… so…" At a loss for words, Tony settles for pushing Steve onto the bed with a frustrated yell.

Steve lands on his back looking up at Tony. He understands why someone would be mad about being robbed, but he has no idea why Tony is suddenly _more_ angry when he found out about the charity.

Tony leans over the length of Steve's body putting his hands on either side of the blonde's head, "Was it real!?" he demands through clenched teeth.

Steve just narrows his eyes at him, searching for understanding. "Was what real?" he says trying to convey his utter confusion at the sudden change in mood.

Tony slams his right hand on the bed beside Steve's face, Steve doesn't flinch, he's way too experienced for that, but his eyes widen with shock, "All of it! What you said, how you acted! I wanna know! Was it real for you too?!"

Steve examines Tony's face again, the anger is obvious, but under it there's genuine hurt clouding his eyes.

"It was," Steve says honestly, hoping to convey the truth of his statement. If felt real to him, but he convinced himself that it was all in his head, Tony couldn't feel anything for him unless he was doped out of his mind.

Tony searches Steve's eyes for something, but whatever he finds makes him huff out a humourless laugh and shake his head lightly.

Steve doesn't know if that means Tony believes him or not, but before he can ask Tony is gone. Lying motionless on the bed, Steve stares up at the place Tony just was with bewilderment. Did Tony not believe him or did he just not care?

When Steve finally comes back to himself Stark is completely gone.

Two weeks pass, with nothing out of the ordinary occurring. Tony doesn't visit again, and if Fury knows about his second job, he doesn't act like it. Steve tries to just continue the previous and familiar monotony of his life, but he can't get Tony's words out of his head.

_'Was it real for you __**too**__?' _

* * *

******_Now _****there's only one chapter left.**

**Preview: **

**Steve looks up and says, "You kept the painting."**

**Those words make him want to punch ****_Steve _****in stupid puppy face, "You ****_looked _****through my ****_stuff,_****" Tony spits venomously.**

**"I did," Steve says taking a step toward him. "You kept the note and my clothes too. I wanted to see if you really cared as much as I did," Steve pauses, only inches away from Tony. Tony silently curses himself for letting his eyes momentarily flash down to Steve's lips, which are still absolutely perfect.**


	5. Mine

**This is where the M rating really applies.**

* * *

As Tony pulls away from SHIELD HQ he curses his own stupidity.

_What the hell was he thinking?! _

Was he actually stupid enough to believe that finding out that Steve also liked him would magically fix everything? That they would just kiss and everything would be sunshine and roses?

He slams his hand against the steering wheel releasing a frustrated grunt, wishing he had a drink, or ten, whatever will be enough to cleanse his brain of all thoughts of _Steve. _Even in his mind he spits that name out as though it were made of poison.

So he gets drunk, until he can't think or feel, and if his bed mates for the next week happened to all be blonde, well, that's just a coincidence.

None of them are _him_, none of them are as sweet, and none smell like apples or cinnamon. But, none of them drug him and steal his money, so hey, you win some you lose some.

It's been almost a month since he came back from his visit with _Steve, _when Tony comes home to an eerily silent house. Living alone means that it's usually quiet, but JARVIS is always on, which is why he at least expects a curt 'Welcome home, Sir', when he enters, but today, there's nothing.

Tony peers around corners as he searches for his phone, finding it, he begins to dial the police just as he enters the living room, but stops when he sees _Steve _standing at the large wall of windows that overlooks a cliff and the city below.

"Quite the view you've got here," the blonde says turning around to face him.

_How cliché! Really? Talking to someone just as they enter the room without looking back? What is this, a fucking Bond movie?_

Tony rolls his eyes and makes his way behind the wet bar in the corner of the room, he'll need a drink for this conversation.

"You should enjoy it now, they don't have a lot of those in prison," he says pouring himself a large glass of whiskey, taking a gulp as he walks back around the bar.

Steve doesn't say anything, just continues to stand with his hand in his pocket looking tense and nervous.

"Which is where you'll end up when I call the police," Tony clarifies, since Steve doesn't seem to get it. "You gave me two amazing orgasms, and I let you off the hook twice, but now I owe you nothing."

Tony doesn't know who he's trying to convince that what happened between them meant nothing, but either way, it doesn't seem to be working. Just seeing Steve makes his throat feel closed off and dry, and sends unwanted sparks throughout his entire body.

Steve sets his face into a mask of determination and stalks over to stand three feet in front of Tony. Three feet seem too close, and Tony wants to run but Steve locks him in place with his eyes, just as he did when they first met.

"I'm sorry," Steve says, sounding earnest and pleading. Tony wants to laugh at how utterly and completely insufficient that apology is, except none of this is really funny.

"You're _sorry?_ For which part exactly? The lying? The kidnapping? No, no wait are you apologizing for drugging me and manipulating me into giving you a million dollars? You're gonna have to clarify for me, _Steve _because I don't know which one to choose!" Tony says, his voice unknowingly rising to a scream.

He hates being lied to and taken advantage of, hates knowing that he's nothing but a pawn in someone else's game. Tony played that role with his father and then Stane for most of his life, he is _not_ going to do it again for_ Steve._

"I quit S.H.I.E.L.D," Steve says out of the blue, "I-I did the 'Robin Hood' thing because I was bored and unhappy, and I wanted to help. I didn't care who, or how I did it, but then I realized that I can help other ways, so I quit. And I need you to know that I've never lied to you, not once since we've met."

Tony just blinks, he has no idea of what he supposed to do with this information. As for the lying? He doesn't believe that at all. "How nice, now get the fuck out of my house," he says walking away.

Steve stops him with a hand on his forearm, Tony turns around to glare at him and Steve thankfully releases his arm, but unfortunately, continues to talk.

"I wanted to thank you. When you started talking to me at that party I could have just given you my number and let you go home but I got in my own way. I went through with it even though I liked you because I was scared that if I wasn't with S.H.I.E.L.D I'd go back to being small and useless."

Tony doesn't know what to think, he can hear the honesty is Steve's voice, the same sincerity he's heard since they met, but he still not ready to just forgive and forget. "That's nice, glad I could help. You can leave now."

Steve's eyes widen with sadness, and Tony wants to revel in it, he wants to feel that vindictive urge to laugh in Steve's face and kick him out of his house, but he can't.

He doesn't do this emotional crap, but even he can recognized that he's no longer angry at Steve, he's just… hurt.

That is until Steve looks him in the eyes and says, "You kept the painting."

Those words _do _make him angry, he wants to punch _Steve _in stupid puppy face, "You _looked _through my _stuff,_" Tony spits venomously.

"I did," Steve says unapologetically, taking a step toward him. "You kept the note and my clothes too. I wanted to see if you really cared as much as I did," Steve pauses, only inches away from Tony. Tony silently curses himself for letting his eyes momentarily flash down to Steve's lips, which are still absolutely perfect.

"I _don't _care," Tony whispers, trying and failing to make his voice sound steady.

"You already told me you cared at S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm really am sorry about what I did, but I wasn't lying when I said I liked you Tony. I want this more than I've wanted anything in a long time, and I know you do too," Steve answers, his voice softening as he takes one final step holding his lips an inch away from Tony's. "I'm going to kiss you now."

Tony would laugh at Steve's cheesy reference to their first kiss, but his mouth is currently occupied.

For a while Tony doesn't move in, but he doesn't pull away either, he just lets Steve take him until it's too much, because it feels just as good as he remembers and Steve still smells like a warm bakery. Giving in to his want, Tony throws his arms around Steve's neck, pulling him flush against his body.

The kiss turns hard and sloppy when Steve pushes in with tongue, and Tony lets the rest of his anger bleed into the kiss, biting down hard on Steve's lower lip. Steve takes it in stride, pushing Tony up against the bar with a moan, dominating the kiss until Tony decides to make things more interesting, and turns them around so that he's in control.

"If we're going to do this, then I get to take the reins this time," Tony says breathlessly. "It's only fair, since y'know, the last time you had me drugged out of my mind," Tony explains with a smirk, pressing the length of his body onto Steve's.

Steve lets out a surprised laugh. "You're still going on about that? That happened like a million years ago," Steve jokes, resting his hands on Tony's hips to bring him in closer.

"Oh, I plan on holding that over you for the rest of our lives," Tony says, and pauses when he realizes the casualness with which he just committed their life together, but brushes it off hurriedly by clearing his throat and continuing on with his plan. "So, I'm the captain, got it solider?" he says, more than asks.

_Thankfully_ Steve ignores his odd faux-marriage proposal and just straightens giving a mock salute, "Sir, yes, Sir," he grins.

"Good, go up to my room and strip," Tony says, deepening his voice, stepping away to give Steve room to move. Steve blushes scarlet, but Tony can't ignore how his blue eyes almost completely darken at the sound of the commanding tone.

Tony follows behind Steve all through the house, and into the bedroom where he turns around to close the door before leaning against it to face the blonde.

"Well, hop to it solider, but go slow, and start with your shirt," Tony says, eyeing him the same way he ogled the pie.

Steve does as he's instructed, taking off his tight white shirt off first, slowly lifting his arms up and pulling it off, all the while, never breaking eye contact with Tony. His shoes and socks, he divests himself of quickly, before finally taking off his jeans and boxers.

Tony's eyes widen and seemed to only get wider from the first sight of Steve's strong chest, to his fully naked form.

When Steve straightens up from pulling off the final item of clothing, Tony can see him fighting the urge to squirm under the intensity of his gaze, but that doesn't stop Tony from drinking in the sight of Steve's bared body.

His eyes travel over Steve's god-like physique, focusing on his erect flushed cock, running over its base, nestled in a bed of wiry blonde hair, to the tip, which is red and leaking.

It's just as perfect as Tony thought it would be, and all of the fantasies he's had of tasting it and having it stretch him open, rush to the front of his mind, eliciting a shudder that shakes him to the core. He had planned on making this slow, teasing Steve until he begged, but after taking in the sight in front of him, all Tony could think was that plans change.

With three wide steps, Tony is standing inches away from Steve, holding the blonde's cock in a tight grasp. Steve makes a surprised sound that mixes with a moan of pleasure, and Tony doesn't even try to hide his cocky grin.

He continues to stroke Steve slowly while nipping at his jaw, determined to show Steve how good this can be, and prove that he's not someone who comes in their pants after five minutes of heavy petting like he did their first time.

_Because that was definitely the fault of whatever drugs Steve gave him._

"Tony," Steve moans after a few skillful strokes, and Tony knows Steve is close. He can feel Steve's racing pulse against his own skin, and feel his labored breaths blowing against his ear.

Not wanting this to end so quickly, he releases Steve's cock, ignoring the whine of protest from the taller man, and pushes Steve onto the bed behind him before getting to work on stripping out of his restrictive suit.

"Nuh-uh sweetheart," he says, when Steve tries to reach for him. "I need you inside me, so lay back and let me ride you," Tony instructs, stepping out of his boxers to get a bottle of lube and a condom from his bedside table.

Steve groans at the sound of Tony's lust driven voice, but follows Tony's instructions, and rest back on the bed, propping himself up on his elbows to track Tony's every move.

He returns to the bed with the items and straddles Steve's prone form.

"God, you're beautiful," Steve whispers reverentially, running his hands over Tony's naked body before pulling the brunette down for a kiss.

Tony allows himself to relax and melt into Steve's lips, trying hard to remind himself that grand declarations are not to be made during sex.

The kiss is lazy and oddly chaste, considering that their current position, but that changes when Steve bucks, sliding the length of his cock over Tony's sensitive hole.

Tony lets out a surprised gasp. "Hm, fuck! Get in me _now,_" he demands, reaching over for the lube, planning on opening himself up _quickly._

Steve interrupts his plans once again by taking the lube from his hands. "I wanna do this," he murmurs pressing a large slick finger into Tony's tight entrance.

Caught off guard, Tony doubles forward, placing his hands on either side of Steve's head for support, breathing heavily.

_OK_, Tony thinks, _so maybe it wasn't the drugs that made him cum in his pants._

Steve eases in another finger alongside the other, fucking them in and out with long slow slides as Tony's breathy gasps of pleasure reveal him being pushed closer and closer to the edge..

_Yep, definitely not the drugs_. _They have to hurry this along now._

"Steve, babe, I'm good, just - _fuck - _get in me, please!" He was planning on making Steve beg, but Tony can't find it in him to mourn his failed plans, or for that matter, frown at the irony.

"Just take one more for me," Steve negotiates, scissoring the two digits apart, finally finding Tony's prostate, only to rub over it lightly once.

Tony releases a frustrated groan, letting his head fall bonelessly between his shoulders while presses back on Steve's fingers, trying anything to get _more_ of that feeling.

Steve, being the saint that he is, shows some mercy and follows in quickly with a third finger, working all three around before sliding them out to retrieve the condom.

Tony barely has time to whine at the loss before he feels the blunt head to Steve's sheathed cock pressing at his entrance.

Without giving the much too careful blonde a chance to slide in slowly, Tony presses back, greedily taking Steve in fully. With a long moan, he lets his head hang again and takes quick shallow breaths as he tries to adjust to the feeling. Steve is long and thick, much more so than his fingers had been.

"Hey," Steve says, cradling Tony's head in his hands, "look at me."

Tony opens his eyes, which he didn't realize were closed, and takes in the sight below him. Steve is flushed, wildly rumpled hair falling against the red silk pillow, and Tony is locked in place once again when his eyes meet the lust filled blue ones.

His heart flutters as the blonde smiles lazily up at him, and goes willingly when he's pulled down for another kiss.

Tony moans loudly into Steve's mouth when he feels large hands take a firm hold of his hips and begin to slide him up and down the length of Steve's cock.

"Fuck, Steve, so good," he groans, kissing his way down the blonde's jaw line to his neck.

But Tony wants _more_, so he places his shaky hands on Steve's shoulders for leverage, and fucks himself needily onto Steve's cock.

"Christ, _Tony!_ Tony, you're amazing," Steve says increasing the grip on Tony's hips to pull the brunette down with more force, bucking up roughly to once again find Tony's prostate.

Tony is suddenly very aware of his neglected cock, leaking and throbbing for attention between their warm bodies. Steve, apparently picking up on Tony's growing desperation (or his own), releases a hand on Tony's hip in favor of roughly jerking at the brunette's bobbing dick.

And it's _just_ on the right side of too much.

"Oh god," Tony moans, making a mental note to look into getting Steve canonized, that is, after he's rested for a few days.

"Come on Tony, let go, I wanna watch you," Steve whispers hotly, meeting his eyes.

And Tony obeys, letting the pooling heat consume him.

But he continues to hold himself on unstable arms, waiting until the blonde's rhythm becomes erratic and he feels Steve go still below him, before giving into exhaustion, collapsing to rest limply against the broad sticky chest under him.

Tony is unable to find the energy to move, so he settles for catching his breath and kissing any part of Steve within immediate reach.

Steve kisses the top of Tony's head after his breathing evens out, "You're gonna have to move before we get stuck together permanently," he says conversationally, lightly running his fingertips over the length of Tony's sweaty spine.

Tony nuzzles Steve damp neck, and kisses the skin there, enjoying the taste of sweat and _Steve._

"I can live with that," Tony mumbles honestly.

_Apparently Steve, and not the drugs, is also the cause of his recent sappy streak._

"Me too," Steve sighs, wrapping his arms around the smaller man and pressing a kiss to his temple.

_At least he isn't the only sappy one._

"But," Steve says after a moment of peaceful silence, "if you stay like this you'll too sore for round two in the morning. And we don't want that, do we now?" he asks, prying the smaller man off of him to throw away the condom and grab a shirt from the ground to wipe them off.

Tony groans in response and turns to bury his head in a pillow, ignoring Steve's amused snicker.

"Just don't steal my kidney and run away," Tony mumbles jokingly, well, mostly jokingly, he really does hope that Steve wouldn't run this time.

Steve pulls him in, pressing Tony's chest to his, and wrapping his big arms around the brunette's waist. "Why would I take your kidney when I already have your heart?" Steve asks sounding completely serious despite the ridiculous corniness of his words.

"Ugh," Tony says, allowing a goofy smile to take over his face, hiding it in Steve's shoulder. It's fine, he can't see it.

"I can feel you smiling."

_Darn it!_

"I hate you," Tony grumbles, but softens his words by snuggling into Steve's warm chest.

Steve chuckles and presses a smile into Tony's hair.

"Good night Tony."

* * *

**I've been inspired, there will definitely be at least one more chapter.**


	6. Friend

_**Enjoy?**_

* * *

"Ugh," Tony groans as he's reluctantly pulled from the cozy fog of sleep into the hazy coffee deprived world of the woken.

Immediately JARVIS begins monotonous morning greeting, "Good morning sir, it is now eight thirty am-"

Eight thirty? "J, why am I awake?" Tony interrupts, voice scratchy, as he rubs the sleep from his eyes and lazily stretches his limbs.

The latter proves to be a horrible mistake when he feels pain radiating from his lower back with every movement.

Tony is vaguely aware that JARVIS is still reciting his regular morning rundown of SI stock and various other things, but he's exponentially more concerned with breathing through the ache that comes with every twitch of his muscles than trying to decode the AI's words.

After minutes of motionlessness, deep breathing, and praying to every god he can think of (he's not sure how Thor could help, but he covers all his bases), the pain finally recedes and he's able to start trying to piece together the night before. The theory that a house fell on him seems like a logical option but his regular schedule doesn't provides many opportunities for such a scenario, so he rules that out.

The process of remembering takes much longer than it should for a genius, but the lack of coffee combined with tiredness proves to be his kryptonite. Eventually, even without the necessary brain juice, he begins to remember the events of the previous day, at least in part. He may have had a few drinks at lunch, and at breakfast. To be fair that was when he was still trying to get over Steve.

Wait...Steve!

Tony sits up with a rush to check around the room for the blonde,but immediately regrets it when he feels the sharp stab of pain reemerge.

"Holy mother of god!" He blasphemes, breathlessly doubling over in pain while the stream of curses mindlessly continues to flow.

Maybe he did get a bit too overexcited last night. Considering that it's been a long time since he's been on the receiving end, he probably could have done without yelling 'harder' those last few times.

He doesn't regret it.

Tony stays in the same bent over position for what seems like forever, only stopping to look up when he hears chuckling coming from the doorway.

Leaning against the frame is Steve. He's skillfully balancing a stocked tray with one hand, the other one clasped over his mouth in a failed attempt to stifle his laughter.

"Are you laughing at my pain Rogers? You ass!" Tony says, aiming for indignant, though he doesn't quite accomplish it because his mind is too preoccupied with thoughts along the line of: Steve actually stayed!

Steve shakes his head fondly then moves to place the items on the nightstand before helping Tony lean back on the mound of pillows he sets up. "I think the problem is actually your ass," he jokes as he adjust Tony's pillows and blankets, "and it serves you right too, because you're the one who didn't want to move even after I warned you this would happen."

Tony lightly slaps the fussing hands away. "Whatever," he grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest petulantly, "at least you stayed, 'cause if you left me in pain I would hate you and your giant cock so much more."

Steve sighs and takes a seat at the edge of the bed beside Tony with a serious expression. "I'm gonna ignore most of what you just said and just focus on the important part," he begins with a weak smile.

Tony braces himself because although he's never seen it Steve he still knows that smile. He's seen it on Pepper enough to know that it's the 'transitioning from a joking to serious talk' smile. Tony hates that smile.

"I told you I was staying, why didn't you believe me?"

He deflates at the sound of Steve's honest pleading, and despite the protest in his back, he uncrosses his arms and brings Steve down for a kiss.

Even though it buys him time to think of a reply, Tony still can't find a good answer to that question. Everything he can think to say sounds wrong or too mushy and abstract.

_'I want to believe that you've changed and just hand over my heart, but for now I can't risk it because you might not want it, or worse, leave with it and never come back.'_

Yuck.

Truth is he doesn't really want to forgive and forget. It's a heck of a lot easier to get over being stabbed in the back if you were expecting it. That way when Steve gets over this phase and decides he wants to be a spy again then Tony will be able to pick himself up, dust himself off, and go back to his life of drunken debauchery.

Of course he hopes that doesn't happen, but you know what they say about hope.

He doesn't say this though, instead he goes with the patented Stark method: deflection.

When he pulls back from the kiss he allows himself a moment breath in Steve's scent then slaps on a big fake grin. "So what'd ya' bring me?" he asks infusing his voice with fake cheerfulness as he turns to inspect the items on the tray.

Out of the corner of his eye he sees Steve looks at him, and for a moment Tony thinks that he might continue to push the conversation, but luckily the blonde only sighs and moves to place tray over Tony's lap before retaking his seat on the bed.

"Take these," Steve instructs handing over two pills.

The brunette scrounges up his nose, eyeing them warily. "What are they?"

Steve releases a frustrated groan that catches Tony off guard. "This is why we need to talk! I need you to trust me and you don't!"

"What? Steve no! It's not about trust. If someone gives you drugs you ask what it is! That's normal, no matter how hot he is." Tony insists gesturing wildly with his hands. Although it hasn't worked for him yet, he hopes that the complement will distract from actual talking.

No such luck.

Steve just shoot him a level look and continues on, "If it was Pepper giving you these would you take it?"

Tony open his mouth and then shuts it slowly. "That's totally different," he finally mumbles in defeat.

Steve throws his hands up and groans. "See this is why we need to talk! You don't trust me."

"I'm trying OK!" Tony snaps. "It's not easy. You kidnapped and stole my money! For gods sake can have some time?"

Tony releases a heavy breath through his nose and lean back further, far away from Steve's space.

That was unexpected...

He didn't really mean to have an outburst but he feels like Steve is asking him to do the impossible, and he has no right to ask.

For as much as he likes Steve- and lets face it, it stopped being just 'like' a long time ago- he can't just blindly trust him after what he did.

"I'm sorry," Steve whispers, looking down at his fidgeting fingers.

Tony exhales softly and closes his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose to calm down. "You already apologized, you don't have to-"

"Not for that," Steve interrupts, nervously curling and uncurling his the hem of his shirt around his finger. That catches Tony off guard and he looks up at the taller man with brows knitted in confusion.

"Uh, I mean I'm sorry about that too," the blonde amends hurriedly when he finally looks up and catches Tony's expression, "but just now I meant sorry for trying to pressure you to trust me. It must be hard, and you have every right to take your time. I just- I really like you Tony and I want this to work."

He hopes that Steve means those words with the same intensity that he does, but that's probably just wishful thinking.

"I know you probably don't like me very much now," Steve continues reaching out to take Tony's hand in his, "but I wanna know if there's anything I could do."

Tony laughs at the irony of Steve's words. "I like you Steve, I really like you." Ugh, he not good at this- putting words to feelings- so he decides not to use words. "Jus' come here," he says motioning for the other man to come closer since Tony's back wouldn't allow him to move.

Steve looks hesitant for a moment but complies anyway. When he's close enough Tony pulls him in for a deep passionate kiss, threading his fingers through blonde hair. When he feels Steve relax he tugs lightly at his hair to pull Steve even closer and slip his tongue into the other's accepting mouth.

When they finally pull apart he feels slightly dizzy, and judging by the big goofy grin Steve gives him, he's sharing in the euphoria.

"I really, really like that too," Steve murmurs, pressing another kiss to Tony's lips.

"I knew you were only in it for my amazing body," Tony jokes, happy for the return of the light air between them. Even happier when he receives a fond eye roll and another kiss from Steve.

"I hate to interrupt," JARVIS cuts in, "but it seems prudent to inform you that Miss. Potts is currently on her way up.

"What? Why?" Tony asks slightly panicked. He hasn't told pepper about Steve -which is fishy enough to tip off her Pepper senses- but more importantly he hasn't worked out a story for him and Steve's. He starts moving the tray to stand, but halts immediately when he feels the same stab of pain in his back. "Fuck!"

"Oh crap!" Steve empathizes, securing the tray before helping Tony back into bed. "Just lay back, and here, they're just Tylenol from your cabinet."

This time when Tony is handed the pills, he gulps them both down in one swallow of water and wipes his mouth with back of his hand.

"To answer your previous inquiry," JARVIS says, not sounding the least bit concerned for his creators health, "I was unable to send an alert when I was brought offline last night so, as per protocol, I sent one when I came back online this morning."

Tony shoots Steve a glare which the blonde returns with a sheepish grin.

"later we're gonna have a talk about how you managed to mess with the most advanced piece of technology in the world."

Steve shrugs and leans in with a teasing smile. "I'm a man of many skills. I'd be glad to show you some."

"Tony! What the hell is wrong with- oh uh, hello," Pepper says stuttering to a stop when she sees Steve.

Both of them turn around to see Pepper enter in her usual flurry of heels and a well fitted business suit, and an annoyed expression.

The blonde stands quickly, pinking slightly under Pepper's appraising gaze. "Hi uh, I'm Steve, you must be Pepper. I've heard a lot about you," he greets politely, taking her hand.

Tony almost face palms. This is why they needed to discuss a plan before talking to Pepper. She knows more than anyone that Tony doesn't keep people around long enough for him to tell them about her, and none of them are polite.

After Pepper releases the hold she narrows her eyes at Tony over Steve's shoulder, demanding an explanation.

Tony just shoots her a hesitant grin and ignores the annoyed curve her right brow takes on.

"Steve's a friend Pep so be nice," Tony warns wagging a finger in her direction. Steve's polite smile wavers a bit at the word 'friend' but still retains it toothpaste commercial quality.

God, That's going to be the topic of another 'talk'.

Pepper studies him intently then sighs and shakes her head, probably ignoring the situation to keep her own sanity.

Tony barely resists the urge to whoop with joy.

"JARVIS said something went wrong so I came to make sure you didn't blow up the house again."

"You blew up your house before?" Steve asks with alarm.

Tony waves off both of their concern and starts to poke at his slightly cold breakfast. "You made me breakfast pie?" Tony gasps when his eyes catch the triangle slice of heaven and wastes no time getting to work on the delicious pie.

It tastes the same as he remembers, and for a second he thinks that might be a sign that it's drugged, but he quickly pushes that thought away. Steve asked for trust and the least Tony could do is try to give him a little.

Steve chuckles. "Yeah I usually wake up at five thirty so I had time while you were asleep."

"I thought you hated pie ever since the ransom incident?" Pepper asks idly, more paying attention to her phone.

Her distraction is how she misses the reassuring wink Tony shoots at Steve when he sees the blonde's face shift back to his usual guilty puppy expression.

"Steve's pie is special," Tony says with a smirk.

Pepper rolls her eyes, probably assuming that it's just some dirty joke. "Whatever you say. Since I'm here I have to remind you that tomorrow night is the Senator's wife's birthday party and you will be going. It's a black tie affair, and I know you hate those but don't worry, you can bring a guest. Actually..." Pepper says with a smirk that raises the hair on the back of Tony's neck.

"You should bring your friend Steve," she finishes turning to Steve.

Tony curses himself for actually being stupid enough to believe that Pepper would actually let his indiscretion go.

"I'm sure Steve has more important things to do-"

"Nonsense," she drawls, "I'm sure he wouldn't mind since you're such good friends."

"I'd love to," Steve agrees, cutting off Tony's retort with a smile that Tony can't really disern it's sincerity.

"Steve you don't have to-"

"No it's fine. That's what friends are for."

Fuck, Steve can't use passiveness aggressive, that's Tony's thing.

"Wonderful!" Pepper says with a grin, "I'll confirm the plus one."

With that, Pepper leaves with just as much style as the entered.

"I'm gonna go." Steve says pointing over his shoulder.

"Steve you're not just a friend, ok? I just need to ease Pepper into the idea that I'm not going to m be whoring around anymore. Not that it matters the woman can read me like a book. I might as well have just-"

Steve's bends down and shuts Tony up with a kiss, but the silence only last until Steve pulls back.

"-told her everything it would have been the same."

Steve can't stop himself from smiling brightly. "You babble when you're nervous," he observes.

"I do not!" Tony insists.

Steve rolls his eyes in reply and walks around to lie on the bed mirroring Tony's position. "Just eat your breakfast."

"I better not get high off off this," Tony snarks, once side of his lip kicking up in a teasing smirk. He has to duck to avoid the pillow that Steve throw but it's worth it.

* * *

**_I'm giving up and trying to guess when this will end, so I'll probably keep going until you guys get bored._**


	7. Getting Comfortable

I would apologize for how long it took me to upload this, but I think you're already accustomed to it by now.

* * *

They sit against the headboard in compatible silence while Tony eats and Steve, well, Tony doesn't actually know exactly what it is that Steve's doing. He seems to be reading the newspaper -an actual physical copy, produced from god knows where-, but every time Tony looks over to his right Steve is either looking at him with a smile, or in the process of tearing his eyes away from the print to give him that same goofy grin.

"OK, what's with the look?" Tony finally asks after yet again looking over to see Steve's eyes on him.

The blond just continues to smile, shaking his head before returning his attention to his newspaper.

Tony pouts -in a very adult fashion- in frustration, then pokes Steve on the shoulder to get his attention. "Teeeeell me," he whines, giving up any pretence of maturity.

When Steve pays him no mind, -only the slight upturn at the corner of his mouth showing that he even recognizes Tony's actions- the brunet glares at him, then leans back with a huff. "You suck," he mumbles, just loud enough to be heard clearly.

Steve chuckles, then finally turns to nip softly at Tony's jaw line before giving the same spot a kiss. "Not yet," he whispers against the other man's ear, voice pitched low and full of promise, "but if you finish your breakfast soon I might."

A slow smile spread over the engineers face as he catches the meaning of Steve's words. He wolfs down the rest of his food in minutes then pulls the blond down for a rough kiss.

"I was the one that promised to suck your off," Tony notes as he he pulls back the cover to reveal his nakedness. Oh that's right, he never did get to putting on clothes. Life's little miracles.

"We can get to that later," Steve says, slotting himself between the geniuses spread legs. Steve first strips off his own shirt -the same one from last night, Tony notes- then licks his lips and wastes no time taking Tony into his mouth.

Objectively, -or as objective as one can be about these things- Steve does a great job. Although Tony can tell that this isn't a regular occurrence for him, the ex-spy listens to Tony's every sound and adjusts his technique accordingly. He ends up applying just the right amount of suction, bobbing his head while stroking the parts he can't take with a big calloused hand, the other one fondling Tony's balls.

"Steve," Tony whisper. He forces his eyes open to look down just as Steve pulls back to suck on the head of the his cock; looking up from underneath his eyelashes. Tony almost loses it.

Steve deceptively innocent blue eyes and soft pink lips act as an obscene contrast to the cock in his mouth and the pre cum and silva mix dripping down to his chin. It's absolutely gorgeous and Tony allows himself one more long look before he tips his head back to just enjoy the feeling.

"Close," he warns using the scarce amount of air left in his lungs.

The blond pulls off completely, jerking Tony closer and closer to the edge with fast, harsh strokes.

When Tony comes it's to the feeling of Steve's warm body hovering inches above his and wet lips on his neck.

"Worth the wait?" Steve asks with a smirk.

Tony wraps his arms around the larger man's chest, ignoring the drying cum between them, and pulls him down. Steve is definitely not light, but Tony finds the solid weight resting on him comforting.

"You really play up the Boy Scout thing huh," he says running his hands up and down the length of Steve's back just to feel the muscles flex involuntarily in responce to his touch.

Huffing a laugh, Steve presses more open mouthed kisses to Tony's neck before rolling over to lie on his back. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he responds primly.

Tony hums. "Sure you don't," he drawls, getting up to set himself between the blond's spread things. "My turn," he declares with a smirk. That's all the warning he gives Steve before he removes his belt and pulls down his pants and boxers in only a few swift motions.

He thinks he does a pretty good job. Despite the fact that he is a bit rusty, it only takes him a few minutes to get Steve off, so he counts it as a win.

They are only able to bask in the after glow for a few moments before JARVIS informs them that the cleaning servis is here.

After they recieve the message, Tony drags Steve off to the shower, ignoring the blond's protests.

"You have a maid?" Steve questions, closing the door behind him as they enter the bathroom.

Unable to safely discern the meaning of Steve's tone, he settles for shrugging and kissing him instead of giving an answer.

"Why?" the blond asks as Tony pulls away to fiddle with the water controls.

"Why what?" He replies, looking over his shoulder.

"Why do you have a maid? It seems like a waste of money," Steve says, leaning his hip against the counter, inspecting some of the several bottles and jars that litter the surface.

Tony furrows his brows and turns around fully with a playful smile. "Oh, that's what it's about? Don't worry Robin Hood, the money isn't wasted. They keep my house clean enough so I don't get e-coli poisoning, that way I can live and make enough money to give to charity, everyone wins."

Steve doesn't look a hundred percent sold on the idea but nods anyway.

"Which reminds me," Tony says, slinking over to stand in front of the blond, "you didn't really explain the whole superhero thing."

Steve shrugs casually but looks away sheepishly. "I grew up poor with a single mom, so I guess I didn't want anyone else to go through what I did, y'know?"

Tony really doesn't know actually. His life, for the most part, has been hard, but in very different ways than Steve's. He's always had a christmas three overflowing with presents but never any parent there to open them with.

He tells Steve as much, and the blond seems genuinely sympathetic.

Tony groans when Steve pulls him in for a hug, slotting the smaller man between his spread legs to bring his as close as possible and tell him he's sorry. "There's nothing to be sorry about, Steve. You're the one that actually suffered while I blew money away like it was nothing."

Steve rolls his eyes, not releasing Tony from his hold. "That was you before. I did some research on you too. You give millions to charity every year, and that's not even counting your own charity. You should give yourself some more credit, you deserve it," he compliments, putting enough room between them to look into Tony's eyes.

Tony can help but smile back and meet Steve's eyes. He hates to describe it as 'gazing meaningfully into each other's eyes' as if they're following some cheesy script, but, right now, that is the perfect description of what they're doing. He decides that, since they seem to be reenacting every rom-com trope, he might as well pull Steve in for one of those heated kisses that comes just before the scene fades to black.

The blond returns it enthusiastically, and most likely with no amount of mocking irony. A thought that actually excites him. Maybe what he needs is a bit less cynicism.

So he makes it a goal; no more hiding behind biting sarcasm. From now on he is going to attempt to open himself up to new experiences, like loving Steve, and ignore the part of his brain that is now pointing out just how cheesy of a goal that is.

Unfortunately, when he opens his mouth the first thing that comes out is, "Well it's a good thing you found me huh? Now you can be a kept man; a real rags to riches story." OK, now he's starting on that goal.

The blond rolls his eyes. "If I was just on it for your money I would have just stole it," he jokes, pushing himself off of the counter to stand.

Tony chuckles and steps back to give Steve room to stand. "If that wasn't funny I might have said it was too soon," he says with a grin, turning back to finish adjusting the shower, "but lucky for you that was pretty funny."

"Glad I could entertain," Steve replies, smile clear in his voice.

They fall into comfortable silence once again, and it continues as the step into the shower that rains down all round them. There are a few lines exchanged, but they remain quiet for the most part. Tony marvels at how easy this all is. When Steve looks down at him -soap bubbles running down his face from the soapy mass in his hair- and smiles, he returns it and begins to believe that he really could see himself doing thing for a long time.

By the time they finish, the maid is gone and the room is impeccably clean. Steve clothes from last night are gone so Tony offers him a pair of loose boxers and the sweats that technically still belong to Steve in the first place.

"I expect the back," he says waging a finger at the blonde who smiles and nods in responce.

Tony unabashedly watches him get dressed before making his way into his large closet to slip on a pair sweatpants and an old t-shirt of his own.

When he comes out of the closet -no pun intended- Steve is waiting for him on his bed, looking through his own phone -a way-too-old model StarkPhone- but looks up as Tony comes closer, a slow smile spreading over his face as though it's the most natural reaction in the world.

Tony's step falters for a moment; hit by the openess of Steve's exprerssion, but recovers quickly enough that his hesitation isn't noticed and walks acroos the room to stand in front of his seated partner.

Steve's legs part instandly, and Tony takes his fimilar place between them, wrapping his arms around Steve's neck. "So, what now?"

Large hand slide up his thighs to rest on his hips. "I should probably go home-"

"Boo," he inturrupts with a pout.

Steve ignores him and carries on. "-since I haven't been there since yesterday afternoon. I promise I'll call, plus we have that birthday part to go to."

"Fine," Tony concedes, moving away to flop down onto his back on the bed beside Steve.

"I don't want to go either, but I have some stuff I have to do. Like getting a tux."

"Oh I can-"

"No, Tony," Steve says shaking his head, "I apprecate you willingness to help, but I'd prefer if you din't pay for everything, I can buy my own tux."

Tony heaves a loud sigh. "Fine," he repeats. "You leave me heare alone, you don't let me buy you nice things, where's the love?"

Steve chuckes. "It's right here," he says, leaning down to give the brunet a kiss on the lips.

Did Steve just say he love him? Tony thinks when they part.

"Am I forgiven?" the ex spy asks, apparently ignorant to what he just confessed.

Tony smiles back genuinely. "My forgiveness costs a lot more than one kiss."

Steve takes it in stride, leaning down again to place another kiss on the other man's lips. Then another, and a few more when Tony again says that those aren't sufficient payment.

They make out like teenagers for a long while until Steve pulls back and checks his watch. "I really should go now," he mutters regretfully.

"Or," Tony says, pulling him down again, "counter offer; you stay, and we keep making out. And maybe more," he adds, wiggling his brow promisingly.

Steve give in to one more kiss before standing abruptly, ignoring the whine from the other man.

"At least let me call happy for you," Tony pleas, sitting up.

"Is that sentence supposed to mean something to me?" Steve asks, raising one eyebrow.

The brunet sighs. "He's my driver, let him drive you home," he explain, already tapping at the screen of his phone.

"Hey, Happy you free?"

"You need me to bail you out of jail again?" Happy asks lightly, as if it would be completely normal if that was in fact the reason for the call.

It would be, but Tony still resents the implication, no matter how true.

"No you idiot, I need you take home a friend of mine."

"Oh, Why didn't Pepper call me herself?"

"It's not Pepper."

"Rodhey?"

"Not Rodhey."

"Me?" he asks sounding truly mystified.

"Why the hell would I call you to pick yourself up? Just get over here." Tony finishes, hitting the 'end call' button with more force than is necessary. He totally has other friends.

He looks over to Steve who smiles and shakes his head -Tony is choosing to interpret it as fond- then wraps his arms around Tony's waist. "You're insane. You know that right?" he comments, smiling into the mop of messy brown hair.

"Geniuses takes that as a compliment."

"Whatever you say. You're just lucky my bike is in the shop, or your friend would have come all the way over here for no reason."

Tony huffs through his nose, enjoying the way the taller man's body shutter when the cool air blows against his neck. "He's not my friend, he's an employee. And he's not even going to be that by the end of the day."

"You let all your employees talk to you like that?" He doesn't make it sound like a bad thing.

Tony leans back, freeing himself from the loose hug, and lifts his chin proudly. "Of course not. I dominate like the rulers of Astapor," he says with faux seriousness.

Steve's face goes blank, and Tony knows he doesn't get the reference. "Jesus man, it's from Game of Thrones." Still nothing. "Do you even own a TV?" he asks, throwing his hands up in frustration.

"'Course I do, but I use it to watch the new," Steve answers.

"That's not normal, you're not normal."

"Being differnt is good."

"Not all the time," Tony says, shaking his head. "You're like a ninety year old man."

"I'm more that ten years younger than you," Steve points out.

Tony huffs. "That's only in numbers, I'm way younger in every other area."

"Including maturity," Steve mumbles, earning a light smack on the chest. He flinches away dramatically, laughing as Tony pouts.

"Including maturity," Tony mimics mockingly.

Steve only laughs louder. "Way to prove me wrong."

Before he could answer, Tony's phone vibrates. He touches the screen and read the message.

Happy: outside boss

"Oh look at that," says, turning the phone for Steve's blue eyes to run over the screen, then pockets it, "now you can get out." He tries to sound annoyed but his body betrays him, stepping forward to take hold of Steves hips.

Steve's face softens, lips kicking up slightly on both sides. "I see you soon," he promises, brushing his lips against the smaller man's.

Tony gets up on his toes to deepen the kiss.

Steve detaches himself first. "I should go, it's rude to keep people waiting," he says taking a few more steps back.

Tony grudgingly nods then watches butt as he leaves.

He waits for the the panic that usually sets in at the thought of a committed relationship, but nothing comes. All he does is starting missing Steve.


End file.
